Draft of a deed of gift in which an elderly singularius (an official messenger) revokes an earlier gift and instead leaves all his property, effective on his death, to his daughter, in gratitude for her care during his illness and old age. It comes from Antinoopolis and dates to AD 566-573.
In English machine translation
[… lines lost …]
since you have cared for me in my old age, inasmuch as you cared for me so that I suffered no harm and lacked nothing, I therefore reflected within myself, and for this reason, because of what you have done for me, I order that from now on, from this very day, the same earlier gift be void and invalid wherever it is produced, whereupon I have come to this second gift, by which I, this same singularius, acknowledge through this my written deed of gift that immediately after my death all my property, existing and future, movable, immovable and self-moving, from the most valuable to the cheapest kind, down to a single assarion, is to pass to you, my aforementioned daughter here, the aforesaid property with all its rights being given to you by me immediately after my death, not previously pledged to anyone else for any capital sum, contract or matter whatsoever, so that you may manage and administer it, alienate and transform it, give it away and bestow it, exchange it, give it as dowry and pass it on to your heirs, successors and assigns, I the donor and my heirs, successors and assigns guaranteeing it with every guarantee and clearing it of claims for all time against anyone who shall proceed against it or lay claim to it, since you have provided me every rest and care in my illness and old age; and the oath and the customary clauses […]
One record describes the text as a divorce contract, but the surviving text is a deed of gift (donatio mortis causa) to a daughter; the divorce may be the text on the other side. A singularius was a member of an official's staff serving as messenger or attendant.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Contrat de divorce). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.